Brahim Díaz at the heart of the dilemma: who will lose their patience first among the La Liga giants?

There's no room for everyone: an equation that recurs every season, but its intensity increases when it comes to players with big names and high ambitions. In the current season, a number of players from the top three clubs in the La Liga table find themselves outside their coaches' core plans, awaiting a chance that does not come often enough.

A report by the Spanish newspaper "Marca" has put the spotlight on Alejandro Balde, Brahim Diaz, Rodrigo Mendoza and Endrick, four players who are not getting the minutes they expected before the season kicked off. That raises one big question: which of them will stay patient the longest?

Alejandro Balde is living through a spell at Barcelona that looks like the end of a once-ideal relationship with the Catalan club. The Spanish full-back built his name on pace, skill and his ability to burst forward. Not long ago he looked set to own the left-back slot. Instead, he has drifted to the margins of Hansi Flick's plans.

Just 100 minutes in La Liga this season tell the story. His longest outing came in the Clasico, when he came on for roughly an hour after Espart's injury.

Look at the options across the full-back positions and his situation grows even harder. On the right, with Kounde injured, Eric Garcia steps in as first choice, with Farinas next in line.

His natural home on the left offers no comfort either. Balde sits behind the currently injured Espart and Cancelo, who can cover both flanks, with Gerard Martin a further option. Flick has also aimed public criticism at his level.

Balde chose to stay at Barcelona over the summer despite his situation. The approaching winter window, though, may crack the door open to fresh developments.

At Real Madrid, Brahim Diaz is one of the clearest fading presences. He has managed only 149 minutes in the league, a tally miles short of the expectations he carried at the start of the campaign.

Jose Mourinho has so far seen nothing from Diaz to make him rethink his choices. In the playmaker role, competition is fierce with Jude Bellingham and Arda Guler ahead of him, and his chances look little better out near the wing.

Brahim is not frozen out completely, and Mourinho has not written him off. Yet if things carry on like this, talk of his future will only grow louder in the coming weeks.

Endrick has fared even worse, managing just 84 minutes in the league. It leaves him in a situation that looks a lot like last season.

One thing protects the Brazilian striker, though: his standout displays across a number of UEFA Champions League matches.

Deployed leaning towards the right, Endrick proved an important part of his side's comeback against Roma. He also chipped in clearly in the last match against Athens.

His loan spell with Lyon last season gave him the stage to show his quality, and his form there earned a call-up from Carlo Ancelotti for the last World Cup. Several clubs, for that reason, will track the Brazilian's situation over the coming weeks.

Rodrigo Mendoza finds himself in a similar bind at Atletico Madrid. The Madrid club signed the Elche midfielder in the last winter window for 16 million euros, with add-ons that could push the fee up by a further four million.

Technically gifted, Mendoza is also a Spain under-21 international who earned the trust of Eder Sarabia. Winning over Diego Simeone, however, has so far eluded him.

Only 144 minutes this season is a meagre return, especially given the injuries that have ripped through Atletico's midfield, Koke, Barrios and Cardoso among them.

Mendoza is left waiting for the weeks to tell him whether his chances will improve. Simeone seems to favour a different type of midfielder, which does the youngster no favours, a youngster seen just one year ago as a strongly rising talent.

With the winter window closing in, Mendoza too could become a target for clubs hunting a player who can hand them more minutes and quality.

Seasons swing and the calculations at big clubs change in a heartbeat, so the futures of these players remain hard to call. Balde, Brahim, Endrick and Mendoza all wait for bigger chances. In the end, running out of patience may be the thing that shifts one of their paths, and perhaps an unexpected name will surface in the winter market too.